The diary by the phone
Your reuse project has one van, sometimes two, and a crew of a driver and one or two trainees. The van collects donated furniture and appliances from homes, delivers items bought in the shop, and delivers essentials to families referred by housing officers and support workers.
Bookings are written in a diary by the phone. A donor rings to say they have a sofa and a fridge to collect; the volunteer writes down the address but not that it is a third-floor flat with no lift, or that the fridge is not working. The crew arrives, cannot get the sofa down the stairs, and the fridge is not accepted. The same morning a delivery to a family moving into a new tenancy is booked for a slot on the other side of town. The driver plans the route at eight in the morning with the diary on the dashboard.
Why van bookings go wrong
- Details the crew needs, such as stairs, parking, access, item condition and size, are not asked when booking.
- Collections, sale deliveries and referral deliveries are booked by different people.
- Routes are not planned by area, so the van crosses town several times a day.
- Customers are not told a time window or reminded, so some are out when the van arrives.
- Items that will not be accepted, such as damaged furniture or items without fire labels, are only found at the door.
What items you can accept, and any safety rules for lifting and handling, are set by your organisation and its advisers. We build booking around the rules you give us.
What a messy van schedule costs
Wasted trips are the obvious cost: fuel, crew time and a slot that could have been used for someone else. Refused items at the door disappoint donors who waited in.
Referred families moving into empty homes are the ones who suffer most from a late or missed delivery. And trainees on the crew learn more from well-planned days than from rushing around town.
One van schedule for every job
What we build brings every job the van does into one booking system.
- Donors book collections online, or with a volunteer on the phone using the same form, which asks about item type, condition, fire labels where relevant, photos, floor, lift and parking, and shows your acceptance rules in plain language.
- Shop customers book delivery at the till or online when they buy, with the same access questions.
- Referral partners book deliveries for families through a partner form, with the items allocated and the family's contact details as your process allows.
- Days are divided by area, so bookings in the same part of town go on the same day, and the booking form offers slots accordingly.
- Each morning the driver gets the day's run on a phone, in a sensible order, with access notes and photos for each stop.
- Customers get a text confirmation, a reminder the day before and a 'we are on our way' message, sent through a service like Twilio.
- Collected items are logged at the door or on arrival, feeding the intake record.
| Problem | What catches it |
|---|---|
| Item too big for the stairs | Access questions and photos at booking |
| Item you cannot accept | Acceptance rules shown when booking |
| Van crossing town all day | Area days and ordered runs |
| Customer out when van arrives | Reminder and on-our-way texts |
| Referral delivery forgotten | Partner bookings in the same schedule |
A day on the van, afterwards
The driver opens today's run: north of town, six stops. Two collections with photos, three shop deliveries, one delivery to a referred family moving in this afternoon. The third-floor flat collection notes 'no lift, two-seater sofa, photos attached', so the crew brings the stair straps and a second trainee.
Customers get a text when the van is on its way. By two o'clock the van is back, the collected items are logged, and the afternoon is spent in the workshop.
Is your van run like this?
- Bookings are written in a paper diary.
- The crew finds access problems at the door.
- Donations are refused on arrival because they cannot be accepted.
- The van crosses town several times a day.
- Customers are often out when the van arrives.